All Things Nutrition with USRowing’s Dietician Liz Fusco
Kristi is joined by Liz Fusco, the Director of Sports Nutrition for USRowing. Liz is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist and Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics. Liz shares all her professional insights with Kristi, it is a do not miss episode to learn how to get the most out of your nutrition- elite athlete or not!
*Automated Transcript Provided*
Liz Fusco 0:01
you're highly intuitive people, and you're really tuned into your bodies. And also you're willing to push beyond comfort. That is actually one of the more difficult parts of my job is when I know that there's something that I can do to help someone, they have to be ready to listen. And they have to be willing to try something different and something new.
Kristi Wagner 0:27
Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream, they want to turn into a reality. Hi, and welcome to episode 20 of the other three years. This week, I've Liz Fosco, who is the Director of Sports nutrition for us rowing. And she's a registered dietitian. And very, very accomplished was honestly like the background of the US earning senior team she goes above and beyond for us athletes and make sure that we have everything we need far beyond just our food throughout the day on so many of these trips, we would be like up a creek without a paddle without her. So
Unknown Speaker 1:10
we we really appreciate her but she's super super knowledgeable about all things nutrition. And she has so much good advice to help everyone le athlete or not feel and be their very best selves. And I think everyone listening will get a lot out of my conversation with Liz and her personally, she's helped me a lot. And they're little changes. So we meet together, but just have someone keeping track of like all my numbers and looking out for me to help me be at my best self when my best is needed is so awesome. So I hope everyone enjoys this fun conversation with Liz. And I bet you'll learn a thing, or two, or three.
Unknown Speaker 1:52
But before we get into that, here is an update on what's currently going on in my training. I'll already be in Serbia when this comes out. But on Wednesday, we are flying to Serbia. And it's like our final prep for the World Championships. We're literally into our last week of our training block before we start racing. And
Unknown Speaker 2:11
it's so exciting. It's a little nerve racking. And we're now kind of into our taper phase. So tapers hit everyone differently. So a taper is when you start to rest before your big competition, you do less volume and less training so that you conserve energy so that you have that for race day. I have no idea why it's called the taper. And some people get super energetic when their taper is hitting. And some people kind of feel more tired. Everyone reacts to a taper differently. And everyone hits a taper differently. But it is nice to be in it our practices are a bit shorter. And it just really feels like it's about to be race time. So
Unknown Speaker 2:59
things are things are going well. And in our boat, Sophia and I have had some good practices. And I think we're just really excited to like, get to Serbia and race. And I think that we've gotten better at talking about what we need and what is going to make us like the best version of our boat and of ourselves. And I think it's been really awesome because the coaches are really supportive of everyone being an individual. And we don't all need to do the same things all the time. Because that doesn't necessarily benefit of knowing us all as individual athletes and and doing what individually we need to do so that we can make our boats go really fast. I just think that's a really cool thing. We're still a week out week from today we'll have our first race and the women's double. They released the entries and there are 21, women's doubles, hundreds, some crews, we've raced before some we haven't. So
Unknown Speaker 4:03
the nerves will definitely build as we get closer to race today, but definitely just feeling excited. And we've been in Aruba for two weeks, but it feels so much longer. I was saying today at lunch like I feel I live here I feel like my routine is I just do this every day. This is my life. But soon we'll be out here and we'll be in a new hotel and a new routine. So that's exciting. And then we get to race it's it's kind of crazy, like this year is felt really long, but really short all at the same time. The key to tapering and racing is to make sure you have a lot of stuff to do to occupy your mind because you don't just want to be sitting around thinking about the race and kind of blowing things up in your head. So got to make sure you've got activities and books and work and TV shows and all those things. So that you know you can stay, stay chill and calm which is big too.
Unknown Speaker 5:00
Me, we've been playing a bit of a like rotating book club. I've, I'm now reading this book about a,
Unknown Speaker 5:07
like serial killer and a trial. I got it from Mali burger man. It's pretty good. It's called 13. And, yeah, I've, I've been enjoying it, I got like 100 pages left. So then hopefully I can find another book because I already read all the ones that I brought this past weekend, my, like, best family friend from growing up, all of her got married in California. So my brother was best man. And my dad was the officiant at the wedding. So it was really hard for me to not be there with all of them and not be celebrating that moment with them. So
Unknown Speaker 5:49
I think that was,
Unknown Speaker 5:52
that's hard. And every time something like that happens, it's like, okay, I'm spending all my time rowing, and I'm missing all this stuff. But I have a really amazing family. And they're really supportive of me, and they know that, like, I would have loved to be there and that I love them all so much. And, you know, I wish that I could be in two places at once. But I think it's really hard to miss stuff, especially when it's like, really, you know, important things
Unknown Speaker 6:26
like that. So, that was hard. But, you know, we all make choices. And it kind of just is the way it is. And they had a beautiful wedding and seemed like everything went really, really great. So I'm, I'm so happy that they could have that, that time and those moments and you know, and that technology has come so far, so I can instantly get lots of pictures and videos of it. But
Unknown Speaker 6:51
I just I'm happy that they're so happy. And it. It's really, it was really nice.
Unknown Speaker 6:58
That's about it from updates from Italy. And next week, I will have updates from Serbia and will have done some racing. So it's kind of crazy. It's all happening. You should tune into world rowing.com. And us rowing.com. I'm sure a lot of updates.
Unknown Speaker 7:16
So follow the racing. I'll post stuff on my Instagram. But it's really almost go time.
Unknown Speaker 7:23
And now it is time for my conversation with the Director of Sports nutrition for us rowing. Liz. Hope you enjoy it. Lindsey, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Happy to be here. I thought we could just start and you could just talk a little bit about your background and how you got here. When I was growing up. My coach in high school was actually a dietitian. And I grew up in a really small town. She was my softball coach. So I just figured, wow, I guess those things kind of go hand in hand. So I actually knew what I wanted to do when I was 14, which I think is kind of rare. When I was applying to colleges, I knew I had to look for a specific undergraduate program. So it's in the US. It's a nationally standardized undergrad. It's called a didactic program in dietetics. So I went to the University of Rhode Island, big on water always have been and I walked onto the sailing team there. And it was just you know, sailing and volunteering for research studies pretty early on to was a big research university. I applied, you know, to be a dietitian, you do the standardized undergrad and then you have to match the same way that physicians do.
Unknown Speaker 8:39
I applied to the match. I did not match, purchase and pretty hard to get into once but my backup plan was culinary school. I almost went to culinary school. Yep, I got into the accelerated culinary arts program at the CIA in Napa and was very close to going.
Unknown Speaker 8:59
Maybe thought about studying wine too. And I found out just a few days before graduation that I had gotten accepted to San Diego State for their dual master's program and Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. At the time, this was like 2011 There weren't a ton of sports nutrition specific master's programs. So I took the leap. I moved from Rhode Island to San Diego, and I kind of went there with a vengeance. I started pestering the sports dieticians in Chula Vista. Pretty early on it took about eight months to convince them to let me make nutrition labels in the dining hall. So I did that for a few months where my winter jacket into the freezer a couple times. You know trying to just make accurate labels. I helped them start their social media channels and we started making back sheets a few months into that I started as a graduate assistant there under the team sports dietitian Sean Huglin. Shout out Shawn and worked with Phil
Unknown Speaker 10:00
Field Hockey and a little bit of water polo and volleyball. And then I applied again to the match. I also did a bunch of stuff at San Diego State I did research and carbohydrate metabolism. I taught food science, I was waiting tables. So I reapplied to the match, I got into the University of Houston. And I did. It was an accelerated internship. So usually they're eight to 12 months long. I did mine and six months sat for the Registered Dietitian exam. And once I pass the exam, I went back to the usopc. And I was consultant for them for seven different sports, they kind of split their sports into they call them sport folios. There's five SP portfolios, and I worked for the endurance sport folio, which is mainly rowing, cycling and triathlon. But also a couple of others like archery was in their pen Teflon. So a couple of interesting table tennis and worked for the for the team three sports through the Rio Olympics. And that's when was Curtis Jordan was a high performance director at the time and he hired me as a full time dietitian for us rowing. So took a bit of a journey. But that's how I got here. Now it's been, it'll have been eight years, I think, by the September. So yeah, that's amazing. I didn't know that. And I've known this for a little while. So that's cool. I feel like the San Diego stuff even if that wasn't the original plan, it really like led you to where you are, you know, it's funny, I feel like things work out sometimes. So to go back to when you were a kid and your softball coach was nutrient nutritionist, you said right dietitian was an actual dietitian. So
Unknown Speaker 11:50
what made you interested in that? Well, I always loved cooking. I grew up in a bed and breakfast. So I just kind of always constantly surrounded by people, you know, just the the thought of food kind of bringing people together. And I just I also loved science. Like I really love the science bears growing up. And our school was they we just took it really seriously, you know, we would design our posters, and I did some random experiments like training of rabbit and growing crystals. But no, I just always loved science. I always loved food. And I loved sports. So to see someone who I looked up to providing us with advice on how to fuel our sport, it just made a lot of sense. And it felt like I could combine my passion for cooking and teaching people and science all in one. So seemed actually like a pretty. I was like, Oh, this makes complete sense. Why would I do anything else? Can you just explain the difference between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist for the people? Yes. Anyone out there.
Unknown Speaker 13:03
Any of you. If you would like to be a nutritionist, all you have to do is just go to a print shop, you can actually do it online, and you can print a business card. Right now there's actually no regulation at all around the term nutritionist. In nearly every state there's no training required to be a nutritionist. To be a registered dietician. You have a nationally standardized undergraduate degree, you match to clinical supervised practice, you have to do a minimum of I think, 1200 hours of clinical supervised practice, sit for a registration exam, and do continuing education every five years. It's a I think it's like 70 credits per five years. And then to be certified in sport, for example, you have to be a registered dietician for two years before you can sit for the board exam and become a CSSD. So it's quite different, quite different. There's a lot of online nutrition courses that are a few hours long, and a lot of people use that to be nutritionists. And I feel like in that vein, there's a lot of stuff online. Like nutrition is very fatty right now. And so what do you think are some of the biggest, like misconceptions or fads that I'd say athletes and just like people, you know, regular people have in regards to nutrition? Oh, this is so loaded. I love it. Well, I think the like new nutrition world, I feel like maybe like put my tinfoil hat on here a little bit. But it's intentionally confusing, because it makes money when people have this idea that they have to do something or that they have to eliminate something that something is bad. So therefore by restricting certain things, you're better and then we get into the
Unknown Speaker 15:00
hierarchical nature of nutrition where if this food is bad, then I must be bad for eating this food. So therefore, if I avoid this food, then I'm better. I'm maybe better than you because I don't eat that thing. You know. So I think it's a slippery slope. And, you know, if you look through history, in the 90s, fat was bad guy. Everybody was eating 100 calorie snack packs and Slim Fast. And, you know, just that type of marketing of, first of all, that being lighter equates to being better, either just as a human or as an athlete. Yes, yes, exactly. And then carbohydrates quickly became the bad guy. And also, you know, then we talked about, I don't know, you'd get into, like, the more restrictive diets like the Paleolithic paleo diet, that one's funny, because we've actually evolved at least three times in the last 12,000 years. So we are quite literally not our ancestors. You know, it's just that that concept of, of eliminating or restricting things is better. I think that's it. That's a common misconception that that just spans across decades in the nutrition world. Do you think there are things that you see athletes have misconceptions about about versus just people that work out on a more recreational basis? Or do you think it's pretty much a similar vibe that people are just getting from our culture, I feel like, there are similarities and differences. And I would say, maybe that there are themes in different types of sports, you know, in sports that, for example, where power to weight ratio is a factor in performance, there's a lot of focus on how to be leaner on how to be more efficient with that weight. And the thing about it is that there's a thread of truth to it. But there's literally 40 different factors, happy to link this in the show notes as well. There are 40 different factors that contribute to performance. And yeah, body composition is one of those things, there's a lot of other things that play an important role. And there are a lot of people with gold medals, not just in rowing, but in other endurance sports, that might not fit the bill of what you would think that they should look like, based on these ideas. And that is, you know, that's recreational through to elite athletes, those those themes kind of persist. Yeah, I hope that answers the question. It does. Because I just feel like for me personally, before I interacted with the you, like on the senior team, I had only very basic nutritional advice, which isn't to say that it was bad, it was just very, like, you should eat carbs before you work out and Pro to, you know, like the triangle if you work out this much. And you weigh this very basic things. So I feel like a lot of the stuff that I thought or, you know, and even maybe still think is from what you see online or read about, or, you know, people say, because that's what you're being bombarded with, you know, all the time, there's so many videos on Instagram and Tiktok, like what I eat in a day, and whatever I'm like, This is ridiculous. So to kind of be a little more like us rowing specific, when you were first hired, what was your kind of job description? And has it like changed over the years? And what would you say are like the biggest improvements to maybe the organization as a whole, but also like the senior national team that you've made, I have a lot of appreciation for how it all started. Because the point of view at the Olympic Committee at the time, was that rowing was a sort of closed off sport that wasn't really utilizing resources very well. So I think coming in the guidance that I was given was to not cause a huge stir, to come in, to show up to bring some snacks, make some smoothies, you know, shake some hands and not to get too involved too quickly, which that was actually really hard. It was hard to not jump in and say, oh, you should do this. Right off the bat. Before people knew who I was. I still remember meeting the head coaches at the time and being so excited and putting my hand out to shake their hand and they were like, who are you? Like, what are you doing here?
Unknown Speaker 19:39
So just having that kind of slow and steady entry allowed people the chance to get to know me as a person and realize that I wasn't a spy. It wasn't a threat, that I was there to just help the athletes be better.
Unknown Speaker 19:54
And starting off, I had a lot of freedom in turn.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
terms of what I thought the role should be. So I, you know, one of the reasons why I decided to leave the Olympic Committee for us rowing was that at the Olympic Committee, the focus is very much on the top of the team, the very top athletes, the top boat classes even. So even if you were on the senior national team, and you were in a not priority boat class, then the instruction from them to me was not to focus on those athletes. And I always felt like that was a sort of, I mean, to their defense, you know, I did have seven sports, like I said, so it's hard to take good care of everyone. Resources wasn't enough resources. But I also felt like it was a bit backwards. Like, if you're only working with the top, then how do you bring more people to the top. So one of my goals coming in was to try to create a pipeline, so that some of the youngest athletes, the junior athletes under 19, and under 23, programs also had some level of access to nutrition information, that was not something that they were just pulling off of the internet. And that meant communicating with coaches and meeting coaches. So again, just going to events going to you 23 worlds going to junior worlds and creating kind of these relationships with coaches so that in the offseason, in the preparatory phases in the selection camp phases, then I can get in front of them and talk to them. I also think being at US rowing convention, was a really big, and now that's shifted into, how do I bring in more dietitians? The dietitians that are working at universities and high performance clubs. How do we all get on the same page? And did they have access to the information that they're seeking? And do they have the bandwidth to take on some of these teams, you know, because a lot of dietitians at universities, they've got 12, other sports sometimes more than that, you know, they have a student athlete population of 1200 1400. So just helping them, you know, move forward with rowing as a focus, I think, has been really big.
Unknown Speaker 22:17
You don't have to give specific names. But are there any kind of specific athletes stories that you've had, and you've got you feel you've played a big role in kind of the integration of what you're talking about has like played a big role. The Sweep women's side was where the integration really started to take hold. And I feel like it kind of trickled out from there, not down, but out in the beginning, the men's and women's teams, sweep teams were both training and Princeton together. And it was always really a priority to try to equalize that resource allocation. And a lot of the athletes that were going for Rio, they really helped me to kind of have a stronger presence within the sport, because they, you know, they showed up, they just showed up, I would come to Princeton, I was living in San Diego at the time, and I would come to Princeton for two weeks, I'd send out a signup sheet, and I never had to ask twice, the whole team would sign up right away. And I would be seeing six to eight people a day for individual meetings. And I think the that's kind of the beauty of being a sports dietitian, is you don't like if people are willing to engage, then the work just speaks for itself. And specifically with endurance sports, you know, it's it's not this kind of stop and go, like a team sport is in endurance sports, you're going from A to B. And yeah, of course, there's wind and Kern and these other things, but you as an athlete, feel the difference of a nutrition intervention, sometimes pretty quickly. So that's the buy in like that's, that's all that really needed to be was was people's willingness to listen and willingness to try. And and then it was pretty simple after that. Yeah. That's probably true. I feel like I am guilty of that. I don't know. I feel like I didn't have any like big red flags. But I remember talking to him was one time and I was like, Yeah, I don't know, I sometimes get a stomach ache. When we do second practice, which is cool. What are you eating? You know, whatever. I'm saying it she's like, Well, why don't you just like, do this instead? You know, I was like, I wouldn't really like to eat lunch foods, you know, before my second practice, but like, it's lunchtime, so I feel like I have to eat lunch shoots.
Unknown Speaker 24:49
Why?
Unknown Speaker 24:52
That's so silly, but just nobody had ever said that to me before. But like in the time of like, okay, I guess I'll stop eating lunch food and then mice.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
Dominque didn't hurt my second workouts got a lot better for how many years? It was like, you know, like, it's just also silly. And I, I'm sure a lot of people have like a similar, you know, we've talked I mean, well, like talk about it just randomly people will be like, oh, yeah, I was always feeling this way, this way. And then was had to put electrolytes in my water. And then I suddenly, like, got so much faster. It's these things that we just don't I mean, we're smart people, but I guess we're all stupid.
Unknown Speaker 25:27
I would say, again, like you're highly intuitive people, and you're really tuned into your bodies, and also you're willing to push beyond comfort. And that is actually one of the more difficult parts of my job is when I know that there's something that I can do to help someone, but they have to be ready to listen. And they have to be willing to try something different and something new. And yeah, sometimes athletes never come around. And they're just not willing. And it's it's the let the process of letting that go and letting it be, as you know, as a caretaker of sorts, like it's, it can be a challenge for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like you do end up being a bit more than just our dietician on. So for context, I've, I've been on I think every US rowing trip that we've been on this year, so we went to Colorado, then California, Italy, Princeton, Italy, and then we'll go to Serbia. Sarasota, totally forgot about Sarasota. Sarasota was in their lives has been on literally all of these trips. We went to Colorado this year, there weren't even any coaches like was came. And there were Can you talk a little bit about just like, how it's been spending so much time with the team and kind of the other roles that you've ended up playing? And I mean, you're definitely like a part of the team. Oh, I mean, first off, it's an honor and a privilege. I've always considered it that way. It's like kind of silly to say, but I kind of think about your All My Children, adult children. And yeah, I think that having the degree in exercise because the Master's in exercise physiology has been really helpful. And not just in being a better sports dietitian. But also in wearing you know, a little physiologist hat every now and then I love doing lactate testing. I love helping with VO to max testing, RMR, you know all of these things are really fun and interesting, and help inform the work that I do with nutrition with athletes. So you know, being in Colorado and getting to do a series of different types of testing, that was super fun, and really informative. And I think, you know, part of being an international sports dietitian, I'm sure. You know, there's plenty of other international sports dietitians that can attest to this, including another mentor of mine, Liz broad, who she was working with the Australian canoe kayak team for a while as a team manager, but also was their dietician and also was cooking for them. Because they're a pretty small team. So just the you know, we're Team players, and we're willing to work hard to make things run smoothly. So I think, you know, in Sarasota, I did rotating supper clubs, and I was cooking dinner,
Unknown Speaker 28:33
cooking meals and trying to cook enough that there would be leftover so that people just didn't have to be on their feet more. At the end of the day. At the World Cup. I was a team manager. So I was going to the team manager meetings and just learning that process and those interactions and meeting other team managers. And yeah, I feel kind of like a jack of all trades at this event, feeling like a bit of a Swiss army knife, you need something I will do the thing and being here at this hotel, you know, this place that we've visited so many times we spent weeks here, now it feels really smooth, like there's not as much to need to focus on as a dietitian. So now I'm focused on we have a second hotel where we have other athletes stakes, now it's getting that one up and running and, you know, to the to the level that we're at here. So yeah, just just being a team player and doing whatever I can do so that everything runs smoothly, has been really fun. And we really appreciate it we would be stranded so many times if it wasn't for Liz, it's actually true when you are since we're talking a little bit about travel when we're like on a trip like an international trip. Can you explain a little bit about kind of what you do to prepare for the trips and so before we leave, I like to do some research on the area and then you know if it's somewhere we've been before then I have a pretty good idea of what's accessible at the grocery stores, but we know
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Oh, that there are certain things that we have in the US that we use from day to day when we're training that aren't as easy to acquire here or are a lot more expensive. So I'm trying to find ways that I can create a lot of familiarity in these places without having to spend a ton of money because we all have a budget that we try to abide by. So one of the things that we do, and I always have a few interns in the summertime, too, that I really relied on them a lot this year because of the travel calendar. But we pack week, I call them food bags, which is a process, we have to make sure that they're not overweight, we have to make sure that they contain enough of what we need, which generally is going to be some type of we'll call it a sports food, but really their fruit snacks,
Unknown Speaker 30:49
fruit snacks, you know, things that we can grab and have quick energy on the water. And we have to have enough that we don't run out actually, props to mama and papa Wagner for bringing us an extra supply of fruit snacks this summer, we always have, you know, a couple of things that are just easy ways to round out meals and snacks like a protein powder, for example. Something that's not as easy to get here, or it's just a different type than we're used to. Plus, we have a supplement sponsor as well. So we utilize their products, and then an electrolyte powder or several different kinds, and typically also protein bars or bars of some kind. And sometimes that is actually because it's more economical to bring it with us than it is to purchase it here. The same bar that we have, that we can buy in a 90 pack in the US for $13 costs a euro per bar at the grocery store here. So it ends up being quite cost effective to just plan a bit in advance.
Unknown Speaker 31:56
Then the other thing that I do is I try to communicate with where we're staying. Sometimes that's easier than others, you know, so I can think of a few locations like I mean, Serbia is going to be a bit tricky. I think Bulgaria was was difficult to communicate well and consistently. But I like to send out menu guidelines, before we arrive somewhere. It just has kind of the basic premise of our breakfast, lunch and dinner, some recommendations for allergy for athletes with allergies, or athletes that are working on working towards making weight. And then a boxed lunch kind of guideline box on guideline came after some failures with that.
Unknown Speaker 32:39
So and then if I'm lucky, then I can get some sample menus from where we're staying and kind of work through the menu with the hotel restaurant to try to basically solve problems before they arise. And then once we're here, it's not, it's usually not so much about education at that point. You're here, you've made the team, we've had all of our kind of interventions over the course of the offseason and the preparatory phase. So when we're racing, we're just focused on the things that we are used to like trying to keep it as regular as possible. So I've got a recovery station at the hotel, typically. And then I usually also have one at the course or at the boathouse. And that's going to provide simple, easily digestible protein, carbohydrates, some fat options, ways that athletes can make complete recovery snacks, ways that they can have some quick fuel before they compete or train. And just consistency in that and keeping that steady. Yeah, you should see the number of fruit snacks that we go through it's and yogurt everything. Yeah, it's crazy. What are some horror stories that you've had to, to problem solve your way through? For some reason, undercooked chicken is something that just persists. I've had this conversation with other dieticians, too, from other countries. And I've been trying to keep count. So for four different occasions in three countries so far, we've been served raw chicken, and so just food safety in general, I think it's just very different in some countries than it is in the US. And so it kind of cracks me up when people are like, Oh, European food is like makes me feel so different. And like the pasta here is different and all this it's like, Well, okay, maybe you're just a little less stressed. I don't know. Maybe because pasta is like a glorified huge part of eating here. You know, it's it's a cultural thing, but the food safety is I would say that the most constant challenge like, in again, I go back and go back to Bulgaria. I don't mean like i Listen, I love you, Bulgaria. You're great. But I had this issue with the dining hall there where staff were like putting their bare hands into boxes of like granola that I was buying specifically for the athletes, and sometimes I have to get a little stir
Unknown Speaker 35:00
earn with them about that they also weren't hot holding food, which is a big part of keeping it at a food safe temperature. So we had these like big steam tables, and they would turn them off. And they would just be off for lunch or dinner service. So I was riding my bike back to the hotel, turning the steam tables on, and then I would leave and they would turn them off, and then I'd come back and I would turn them back on. So I'm just be fighting with them about turning on the steam tables and keeping, keeping hot food hot, and cold food cold. It's really little things like that can create big problems for teams, when you know when we have long lunch and dinner periods. So the food safety I think is has always been a challenge. And then just, I mean, people think I'm insane when I walk around in a grocery store. Like, I have my own wagon, they all have their like carts that they you put a coin into, and it releases the cart. But I don't want to have to put it in a cart, put it on the rotator, put it back in the cart, bring it to the car, put it in the cart, like it's just too much ins and outs. So I have my own little wagon. And people Yeah, they think I'm a freak.
Unknown Speaker 36:10
And they wonder why I'm buying like 10 kilos of bananas every day, too. So I honestly think I might be like changing the well we you might be changing the purchasing patterns of some of these grocery stores. So we come in, and we buy like, you know, 70 kilos of bananas a week. And then we leave and they're buying bananas and buying bananas. And all of a sudden, they were like, where's the person that's buying all the bananas
Unknown Speaker 36:37
are all empty out all the yogurt and then have to go to a new store to get you know, because get a new supply. So yeah, getting it into the car, you know, just logistics of moving large amounts of food. Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. But I'm sure we are because these are like little towns that we go into. So what if there was like one thing that you could have, like every athlete that's coming into us throwing? No.
Unknown Speaker 37:06
Like, what do you think it would be?
Unknown Speaker 37:10
I'd say regarding nutrition, but maybe just outside as well.
Unknown Speaker 37:15
I mean, so I think the overarching goal
Unknown Speaker 37:20
is enough.
Unknown Speaker 37:23
Get enough. Eat enough often enough.
Unknown Speaker 37:29
It's really it can be that simple. I have this little series that I call the five R's. So it's one thing but it's really five things. It's rehydrate with fluids and fluid rich foods, repair with proteins, refuel with carbohydrates, reinforce our immune function with fats, colors and fermented things. And repeat this every three to four hours that we're awake. I feel like I mean, I feel like it's true. I've I think I eat. It's amazing. I eat a lot. But I don't gain weight. I mean, I'm not a lightweight rower. I should say that but it's actually kind of crazy. You're like, oh, okay, just keep eating.
Unknown Speaker 38:13
What would you say is your perfect smoothie? And maybe also protein ball? Good question. So, the, again, the usopc dieticians we developed a smoothie flow sheet, which is pretty cool. And then has 35 recipes on one side. And then the other side is a flow sheet based on like what things you have. But personally my favorite smoothie is mango, raspberry, either vanilla protein powder, or a vanilla Greek yogurt, and some almond butter. Oh, it's really good. It's not too sweet. But I mean, what could go wrong with mangoes and raspberries? Yeah, on protein balls. So this is another it's been a thing for years.
Unknown Speaker 39:06
And the base of the protein ball recipe is is puffed rice. Again, the goal here is that it's something that's simple and easy to digest. Especially if you're like post exercise or post race and it's hot and humid. But you know that you need to take something in so it's puffed rice protein powder, honey, peanut butter and a little bit of salt. I like to add in freeze dried fruit.
Unknown Speaker 39:31
Again I'm kind of big raspberry fans so I feel like raspberries are the one and then you can kind of crush them and it gets this like sweet tart thing going on. And some cocoa powder. So chocolate raspberry protein balls that would be that would be my go to these protein balls are so good. I can't even explain like, what makes them they're so good. We had in Colorado Springs we had like a whole protein fall making competition and was in
Unknown Speaker 40:00
Joe were the taste testers. Some of the girls really? Did you guys dirty? Yeah, yeah, they kind of prank to them. But it was fun. Old Bay hot sauce, protein balls. That was a tail. And I was like, Oh, I'm excited to try this oh, what?
Unknown Speaker 40:19
What is your favorite place that you've gotten to travel with any of the teams that you've worked with? Oh, it's so hard to pick just one place. I feel like that's really the one of the most significant Perks of Being a dietitian, you know, I went to Hong Kong with track cycling a few years back. And that was it was just really interesting to see just how different it was there. And they had a lot of this is pre COVID times they had these big wet markets where you could see like, all these different types of seafood and produce. So that was amazing. It's hard for me to not say Lucerne.
Unknown Speaker 41:00
It's just one of the most beautiful places in the world. And with that, actually San Moritz, Switzerland, I went there for an altitude camp with a group of triathletes a few years ago. And San the just the drive from San pearance to Lucerne is is really special. But I feel like I would be remiss to not mention Italy, we spend so much time here. And it's such a beautiful country. The people here are so kind and the dollar stretches pretty far here, compared to a lot of the places that we travel, which makes it nice, because then I get to provide all the nice fun things for all of you. This is a question from Jess actually, but it's a good question. What would you say is your superpower? Whoo. I feel like this might come from working in restaurants for a long time. Like that's how I got through eight years of school. Thank you, Clark. cookhouse. Thank you, Shane, you thank you C level, being able to multitask with a smile on my face, being able to handle levels of pressure, and hopefully be a relatively calming presence for all of you when you're going through it. So, yeah, solving problems.
Unknown Speaker 42:17
She's very good at that.
Unknown Speaker 42:19
What would you say, has been one of your like, proudest moments? Like, in in your professional career? Oh, gosh, I feel like I have them all the time. Yeah, I mean, it's just these little things, like the most rewarding part of my job is, you know, when people try something so simple, like changing their lunch, and they feel better, and they perform better. Like that is what it's the reason I wake up every day. And it just, it's so rewarding to see, even if it's just that little fraction of a percent of change. It's, it's really meaningful. It's, it's super rewarding to just just helping people. And also kind of, you know, in some cases, having a relationship with someone to the point at which I can kind of call them on things. And be like, you aren't doing yourself any favors by this. And, you know, it's something that you have to establish a level of trust with a person in order to challenge them like that. And that's always really rewarding for me, too, is not like when you know, as an athlete, that I am saying these things, and I'm doing it because I'm in your corner, and I want you to be better. Okay, kind of a few more like fun questions, and we can wrap it up. But um, what is your favorite thing to cook?
Unknown Speaker 43:41
Oh, gosh, I love cooking everything. It's so fun. But I feel like I really love a good soup. Oh, maybe it's just because I'm a Vermonter grew up in Massachusetts and you know, we get we go through cold times. But starting with making a broth.
Unknown Speaker 44:01
I love right now I'm kind of well haven't cooked in a long time, but kind of on the like ginger Tumeric broth. And you can kind of like sear the aromatics. And then put in some bones and just let that kind of simmer away all day. And I just love the nature of being able to taste it as it develops and, and turn it into something really comforting. So I'm gonna go with soup. So we all know that you have an amazing dog named Sonoma, who we all love very much. Do you believe? What what do you feed Sonoma? Do you feed Sonoma? People food or dog food do you have? Do you have opinions about what to feed your dogs so that they have a happy, healthy life? I think it's similar to humans. Right? And like, I want my dog to enjoy eating and I want her to enjoy her food. So sometimes it changes you know, right now it's a Rachael Ray Nutrish
Unknown Speaker 45:01
And that varies. You know, sometimes she wants chicken sometimes she gets tired of the chicken flavors, then I get her to salmon flavor. But yeah, I do love to give her some little, like trimmings of like pieces of chicken or
Unknown Speaker 45:17
she also loves yogurt and probiotics are great for dogs too. So I usually give her a little spoonful of yogurt as well. Also sidenote, she's hanging out with a mastiff named Ralphie right now. And they're so cute together. My friend Cassie says that, that they kiss that they literally kiss each other and that they're besties. So yeah, she's the best. Ralphie is a great name for a mess.
Unknown Speaker 45:41
What about like, your favorite restaurants? So I'd say like, just like beer restaurant, favorite, like, chain restaurant? And then favorite fast food restaurant?
Unknown Speaker 45:57
Oh, gosh. Well, I feel like we should start with fast food. Because the thing about fast food is like a lot of people would just be like, why would a dietitian eat fast food? That's trash. That's garbage. That's bad. But we know as enlightened nutrition folks that there are no good bad food might like good and bad foods aren't really a thing. And it doesn't need to exist. And that dichotomy. So my when I was growing up, was one of my family members worked at McDonald's. And my little cousins and I would go, we would play in the ball pit until we were exhausted. It was also during Beanie Baby time. So like we would get our little kids meals, and we would collect all the little beanie babies. So McDonald's is actually my favorite fast food chain, because of all the memories that it evokes. And also, I just think they have the best fries for a chain. Hmm, it's, I don't know, I feel like there's, there's positives and negatives to all of them in terms of flavor. And
Unknown Speaker 47:01
like how, how tasty something is. But it also kind of just love a Cheesecake Factory trip. You know, like, what's, there's nothing wrong with that. Olive Garden is pretty fun to have. It's been a while since I've been to either of those places, but 10 out of 10 would return. But I really do love finding restaurants, which I'm sure you know.
Unknown Speaker 47:25
And the thing that, to me that makes a restaurant really good is the care that goes into the preparation of it. So, you know, here in Italy, there are a lot of places that they call it agro tourism, where it's a farm, and also a restaurant and usually also a hotel. I mean, this, this hotel that we're staying at right now Leonardo da Vinci, the owner, Mauricio is also the chef. And he's an incredible chef, he cares so much about his food. And he sources, very high quality items, and he just puts so much love and care into it. And he's there every meal serving us with mostly with a smile on his face. And I mean, like he must be the hardest working man in this country. You know, one of the hardest working people in the world, you know, the people and the care and the love, like that's what makes a really good restaurant to me. And there are so many of those all over the world. So
Unknown Speaker 48:27
yeah, just finding those and and trying them and, and learning to appreciate new cuisines. But I also weirdly love steak tartare. That's kind of my thing. Frosty was also taught me a really good tip, when you're trying to find like a good place to eat. That's cheap. You can go on like your Google Maps app and do like the $1 sign and the five stars sign because there's something else with it, too. Yeah. And then it just brings you to like cheap, delicious places. We found a taco shop in Sarasota that way that's in a gas station. It was so so good. Yeah. So just branch out and try that $1 sign five stars. I think my last question is just like, if you were to recommend kind of places for people like listening to go for like good information, like are there any kind of accounts or websites or things? Yeah, there's a lot of not so great stuff out there.
Unknown Speaker 49:28
I do think there are tons of really talented dieticians on social media that focus on intuitive eating, and also it's called Health at Every Size. So we can definitely I'll put a few links in there for those but sports specific team usa.org/nutrition We've got our athlete plates on there. Those are just a great foundation for how to eat according to your activity level. And then we've got a ton of fact sheets on recovery nutrition on
Unknown Speaker 50:00
and travel, nutrition, different types of injuries and illnesses, all sorts of stuff. It's very comprehensive. And a lot of information about different types of supplements on there like caffeine. And then speaking of supplements, the Australian Institute for sport has a supplement framework where they rank different things based on their evidence, their safety and efficacy. So the aim is Group A, especially that framework is is really helpful in guiding just what's worth it and what's not because most of it's not
Unknown Speaker 50:38
the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, the GSSI actually has a lot of great resources as well. And, and more than just Gatorade, but hydrating and understanding, you know, differences in sweat rates and and how to stay hydrated and and achieved those things. I feel like those would probably be my, my tops. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 51:01
Amazing. Is there anything that I have not asked you about that you would like to share with people you know, as an endurance athlete, the most challenging thing can be understanding how to adjust your energy intake to meet the demands of different types of training and intensities. I will just finish with kind of a, I don't know if it's a PSA or a shout out to carbohydrates. Thank you carbs for fueling our brains, our minds and bodies. And the harder you work and the longer you work, the greater your reliance is on carbohydrate as a fuel source. So as Louise Burke says the AI is when the going gets tough, the tough go carbohydrate. I love carbohydrates. Carbs. Amazing. Thank you so much. This has been so fun.
Unknown Speaker 51:53
I asked Liz for our Ask Christy anything for this week. So here is our Ask Christy anything from lists. So as someone who has been to the Olympics, and has been through that experience, my question is twofold. First, what do you think was one of your biggest takeaways? And what did you learn from that experience? And what do you hope to take with you, and bring into this journey to Paris? And, yeah, go from there, I'd say the biggest thing that I learned is that
Unknown Speaker 52:36
achieving a big goal or feels like a big birthday, I feel when I was going to turn 16 I was so excited to turn 16 You know, like anybody, and or whatever age it is for you. And you kind of are so excited because you think you're gonna wake up and feel like a totally different person, and you know, all this stuff, and in some ways, yeah, you then have your driver's license, and maybe your parents give you a bit more responsibility. And so certain things do change, but you still have your insecurities, and you still feel all the things you felt before you saw of your friends and your family. A lot of the things are the same. I thought that Olympians were like, you know, Gods and Goddesses and they just walked so tall. And
Unknown Speaker 53:33
we're kind of like, other worldly, I think I had just put them up on a pedestal. And
Unknown Speaker 53:42
I do think that I've gained confidence from going to the Olympics, but also just achieving different things in sport. But it's also made me realize that, like you have to do things for yourself, and in a lot of ways you are your biggest competitor.
Unknown Speaker 54:01
And so I think that in continuing to grow and to chase another Olympics and try to make that team and see how well I can do in the personal Olympics. It's more like, Okay, how good can I be and realizing that
Unknown Speaker 54:19
to quote the Barbie movie.
Unknown Speaker 54:23
No, but like that I like I'm enough and I can do it and how can I just be myself there? Because I think so much of being a younger athlete in sports, I thought I had to be a different person. I thought I'd be a different athlete. But I think realizing that's not to say that I don't have to make changes and improve Of course I do every that's what athletics is. It's improving all the time.
Unknown Speaker 54:46
But yeah, I think just realizing that Olympians are just regular people.
Unknown Speaker 54:54
And so, if you like want something bad enough and you're willing to put in the work and the time
Unknown Speaker 55:00
Um, chances are you can make that happen. Of course, other factors come into play, but it seems like the theme of our talk is enough.
Unknown Speaker 55:10
Not yet, but I am so excited to watch it. I'm so excited. All the memes have been gold. You know I yeah, I can't wait. Also, so much respect for Greta Gerwig. Well, thank you so much. This was so fun. Thanks so much for listening. I feel like it was an awesome conversation was had so many great things to say. And our quote of the week is all we have left. So my quote of the week this week is from the book dare to make history which is written by these twins that were on the US Olympic hockey team for many many years was really good book. And it said there's plenty of room at the top but no room for anyone to sit down. Thanks for listening. Have a good week. Bye.
Unknown Speaker 56:05
I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our Ask Christy anything segment, head to our website, the other three years.com
Transcribed by https://otter.ai